Draw A Bird, January 2023

Hi friends! I hope you had a lovely holiday season and a happy start to 2023! Have you taken down your decorations yet? We put up two Christmas trees and finally packed up the second one today, but already I miss the warm, cozy glow of the lights and twinkle of the ornaments. The nativity set is still up and might stay around for a little while. It is adorned with white lights and greenery, and it makes me happy to see it.

Being gifted some new-to-me types of professional watercolor paper for Christmas, it was exciting to have had a little time to play with them and learn their different characteristics. What a difference the paper makes!

Close up of texture on cold-pressed watercolor paper

The first was handmade Shizen cold-pressed, 140-lb. watercolor paper. To me, this very absorbent paper seemed more like a rough-pressed paper rather than cold pressed, but WOW, the paint settled into all the nooks and crannies and made such impressive effects. Because of the bumpy textures, indentations, tooth, and the way the light refracts on this paper, the final colors were more muted and definitely could handle a few more layers; however, this paper certainly accentuates granulating paints. That said, this paper would be perfect for landscapes, furry animals, and paintings with looser effects.

Flamingo on Cold-Pressed Watercolor Paper

The second was a smooth handmade, 140-lb. hot pressed paper by Paul Rubens, and it contains a subtle glitter effect; if you know me, you’ll understand how happy glitter makes me! The glitter is embedded in the paper and does not rub off at all. I don’t use hot-pressed paper too often as I find it less forgiving and more suited for highly detailed paintings, but again the effects of this ultra-smooth paper were stunning and the colors more vibrant while using fewer layers of paint. This would be a great paper for ink, pen, illustrations, abstracts, and colored pencil.

Close up of texture and sparkles on hot-pressed watercolor paper

Flamingo on Hot-Pressed Watercolor Paper

I think the flamingo looks better on the hot-pressed paper but am looking forward to working with both papers in the upcoming months. Did you discover any fun artsy supplies recently? Thanks for stopping by!

Ornament

The tree is finally decorated, and although many of the ornaments are handmade, I have a soft spot for vintage glass ornaments. If they are glittered, that is a plus.

Ornament

I never realized how fun it is to paint a glitter effect, and the best part is that it doesn’t fall off and get all over the place!

Snowflake

A pretty glittery snowflake decoration sitting amongst ornaments waiting to be placed on the tree.

Snowflake

If you put up a Christmas tree, is yours up yet? Mine is not, so I’d better get moving!

Candy Jar

The prompt today is candy, which reminded me of this candy jar my mom put out every year when I was young. The snowman head and hat were Styrofoam, and the hat was festively glittered. We would carefully pop the head off the glass jar to reach in for a sweet treat. The scarf was a simple red ribbon glued together.

Snowman candy holder

We also had a Santa version, and both were from the 1950s. Maybe Mom will comment below with a little more info about these cute jars. I love how these prompts bring back so many great memories. Does this invoke a good Christmas memory for you? If so, I hope you share it here!

More Critters

Because I love Cricut’s Create-A-Critter cartridge so much, I am sharing a few more of my favorite cards made with it.  Most were created for OWH except for the giraffe baby card, which was made for my sweet friend Pat when her granddaughter was born.  I took the liberty of using glittered paper on that one (a no-no for OWH) so of course I had to take a good picture of it!

Missing you is ruff

G’day Koala

Monkey card topper

Owl’s it goin?

Tons of Thanks

Giraffe baby card, by special request

Giraffe baby card close up, glittered paper

I wish I had taken a better picture of the completed monkey card but forgot before they were all boxed up and sent, so I will just have to make more so I can get a better photo.  I was happy that some of my punny sentiments went right along with the critters.  TGIF!